U.S. Drone That Went Down in Iran Was High-Tech Intel Tool, Officials Say

The super-secret drone that Iran claims to have recovered was on a
CIA "Focal Point" mission, gathering intelligence and likely crashed
though it remains uncertain whether it was able to self-destruct, U.S.
officials told National Journal on Tuesday.

Controllers lost contact with the prized stealth unmanned aerial
drone, the RQ-170 "Sentinel", last week over western Afghanistan, said
one government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Based on
its projected glide path, officials assume it fell just inside the
Iranian border.

Though the CIA has used the Sentinel to monitor Iranian nuclear
convoys before, the precise nature of the mission this time is not
known.

The Sentinel is the top-of-the-line UAV, with highly sensitive
cryptographic and stealth technology. If it indeed reaches Iranian hands
undamaged it will represent a compromise in the latest of U.S. stealth
technology, said officials with knowledge of the program.

An investigation is under way and the rest of the small fleet of
classified UAVs have been grounded. They number less than 10 and are
piloted by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Creech Air Force Base in
Nevada.

The drones are thought to be equipped with self-destruct capabilities
in the event that they lose contact with their controllers, which is
why the U.S. was initially skeptical of Iran's claim to have the drone
in custody. The officials didn't say if they knew for certain that the
fallen drone had managed to self-destruct.

Near Afghanistan's border with Iran, the U.S. operates non-stealth
drones called RQ-7s for counter-narcotics missions. But all of those are
accounted for, the officials say.

Every Sentinel mission must be approved by the National Security
Staff in advance of its execution and elaborate measures are used to
protect it.

The Sentinel achieves stealth due to its wing-like design, high
altitude flying and energy redirecting paint. It was created to secretly
monitor the proliferation activities of Iran and North Korea.

The cryptographic gear on board is state of the art, as are its
sensor packages, which include radiation signature monitoring and
advanced hyperspectral imaging.

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Marc Ambinder is a contributing editor at TheAtlantic. He is also a senior contributor at Defense One, a contributing editor at GQ, and a regular contributor at The Week.